Display

The Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet has a 10.1" IPS LCD display of 1,920 x 1,200 pixel resolution. The pixel density works out to 224ppi, lower than the 264ppi of the iPad Air and the 299ppi of the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1.

The Xperia Z2 Tablet screen has amazing colors

The sharpness proves sufficient for tablet use, though we would still have preferred a resolution bump from the previous generation as there is some softness in the finer detail on the screen.

Anyway, Sony has applied its TV making know-how with the unique Live Color LED tech, which uses blue LEDs and Red and Green phosphor instead of the usual white backlight. This combined with Triluminos provides even backlighting and deeper colors. Sony promises the screen is better than others at reproducing reds and aqua blues/emerald greens.

That's not just marketing talk either, the color rendering is indeed impressive and the viewing angles are incredibly wide.

Display test

50% brightness

100% brightness

Black, cd/m2

White, cd/m2

Contrast ratio

Black, cd/m2

White, cd/m2

Contrast ratio

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4

0.34

281

830

0.60

498

822

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet

-

-

-

0.45

484

1076

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1

0.41

312

775

0.72

588

812

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014

0.27

221

831

0.53

440

821

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2

0.33

301

901

0.54

493

911

Google Nexus 10

0.26

223

859

0.50

443

878

Sony Xperia Tablet Z

-

-

-

0.53

531

996

Sony Xperia Tablet S

0.35

334

947

0.67

526

783

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

0

149

∞

0

379

∞

Apple iPad mini

0.25

208

838

0.51

458

812

Apple iPad 3

0.21

167

809

0.6

477

779

Apple iPad 4

0.21

163

797

0.63

476

762

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7

0

200

∞

0

328

∞

Asus Google Nexus 7

0.25

244

954

0.36

327

908

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

0.27

223

832

0.49

406

821

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

0.31

257

826

0.55

502

915

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus

0.17

196

1141

0.34

424

1236

The sunlight legibility suffers quite a bit from the reflectivity of the screen - the glass just reflects too much of the surroundings, which can make it difficult to see what's happening on the screen.

The hardware display features are enhanced by the X-Reality engine that analyzes photos and videos. It sharpens the outlines of objects to make them pop, enhancing color and contrast and applying noise reduction.

Sony has added a feature that lets you manually tune the white balance of the screen, but that can be difficult to get right. We would have preferred something simpler, i.e. just a selection of Cool / Neutral / Warm.

A more helpful option is called Smart backlight controls, which is a reimplementation of Samsung's Smart stay. It prevents the screen from going to sleep as long as the front-facing camera can see your face.

Screen calibration tool • Smart backlight control

Battery life

We have the Wi-Fi only version of the Xperia Z2 Tablet, but even the LTE version lacks voice call functionality so we could only do the web browsing and video playback tests.

The 6,000mAh battery doesn't sound like much, but Sony really managed to squeeze every available minute of battery life out of it.